Utkal Express mishap: Derailment leading cause of train accidents in last decade

With 23 people dead and nearly 40 injured in the Utkal Express derailment near Khatauli in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district on Saturday, the train accident points to systemic flaws within the Indian Railways.

According to a report submitted by the Standing Committee on Railways to Lok Sabha in December 2016, it was found that derailments were the leading cause of train accidents in India between 2003 and 2016. It further showed that the leading reason behind these accidents was failures on part of the railway staff. Most instances were those of carelessness, adoption of shortcuts and non-observance of safety rules and guidelines. The number of deaths from train derailments was 511 in the same period.